Bangladesh: Fruits, vegetables fail to enter EU markets

Fruit and vegetable shipments from Bangladesh continue to be turned down at the port of entry to Eur…

Fruit and vegetable shipments from Bangladesh continue to be turned down at the port of entry to European markets due to non-compliance by exporters and poor monitoring by the related government agencies.

Between January and July, the EU has rejected 143 export consignments due to pest and absence of phytosanitary or plant health certificates, according to its Food and Veterinary Office's reports.

The use of fake phytosanitary certificates or PCs and modification of such documents by a section of errant exporters were the other reasons behind the European Union's repeated rejections.

The rejected items include citrus, one of the three vegetables for which there is a ban on the issuance of PC from April.

Asked, Hafizur Rahman, deputy director of Plant Quarantine Station at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said the PC was issued for a particular citrus variety, locally known as zara lebu, on which there is no ban.

The quarantine station has so far issued PCs for the citrus variety by ensuring it is free from canker.

The consignment that got rejected had black spots.

The January-July data on rejections is 67 percent of the total rejection notifications issued by the EU's FVO in 2014.

The stakeholders now fear the EU might restrict the entry of vegetables from Bangladesh altogether if the compliance level does not improve.